


When You Were Young (origin story)

by TheFlowerGirl



Series: When You Were Young [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-17 22:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10603446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFlowerGirl/pseuds/TheFlowerGirl
Summary: A one-shot involving Katrine, Rian and a painful past she'd just as soon not remember.(written in 2007, for an online RP called Secondworld. The origin story of my novel.)





	

“So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“Ugh,” a blonde woman said, looking up from her paper. “PLEASE tell me that hasn’t worked.”

“It was that bad?” an attractive red-haired man asked.

“It worked marvelously for getting my attention, but if it’s my affection you’re aiming for, you’re going to have to try a little harder.”

She stood, dusting the dirt off her skirt. Folding the paper she had just been reading, she placed it in her pack and looked up at the man.

“Now, who are you, and why are you trying so hard to get my attention?” she asked.

“My name is Rian Tiamat, and I just sailed into port.”

“Ah, so you’re a sailor?” the blonde replied.

He nodded.

“I come from a long line of sailors, actually. My father, Treis Tiamat, gave me his ship right before he died, with the instruction to see the world. And I have. I sail out again to Lior in a few days.”

“Lior? On the new continent?”

“And what about you?” he asked, changing the subject. “Or do they just call you pretty blonde girl with gorgeous green eyes?”

“I’m Katin,” she responded behind her blush. “Katrin deMiil Eros.”

“That is quite a name,” Rian commented, chuckling, blue eyes twinkling.

“It is,” Katrin replied, sighing. “I think we’re related to some banished nobleman down the line. I’m not too sure on the details, but we do know ‘deMiil’ means ‘of Miithos’ in the old language.”

“Does it?” he asked curious. “I did not know that.” He paused for a moment. “May I take you to lunch? It is about that time.”

“You may.”

She extended her hand in a manner not familiar but not lost on him. He accepted her hand, as was the fashion in Miithos. Together, they walked to a place he had been to before. As they walked, he pointed out landmarks, gave history lessons and posed random facts he had learned about Claremont in his many trips there.

They shared stories over lunch. Rian’s always seemed more interesting that Katrin’s, but Rian claimed it was all a matter of opinion.

“When I was twelve, my older brother took me to a shady part of town. He was six years older than me, and he said that since my birthday was coming up and I was second to youngest, I needed to make myself a man. So, he bought me a prostitute. I don’t think I ever was more scared in my life! It was then I decided to take up sailing.”

“To find yourself more prostitutes?” Katrin asked jokingly.

“No, to get as far away from that town as possible,” Rian replied. “So, what about you? You’ve barely told me anything.”

“Well,” she started. “I was born the 20th of Shel, so I just turned twenty-three. I have had two brothers and a sister. I began having strange dreams seven years before the Sands of Time were stolen. It was about my youngest brother, Darriek, and how the time whisked him away. They stopped for a year. When I was seventeen, I had them again. At twenty-one, my parent’s shop failed and Darriek was taken away from us; born out of existence as I’ve heard victims of time occasionally do. I was whisked twenty-seven years into the future one night while I was sleeping, and witnessed how this world ends if we don’t do something about this Sand problem. Shortly thereafter, I left home and haven’t been back since.”

“Wow. That’s more information than I needed,” he chuckled.

“You said you wanted to know, so I just figured I’d start at the beginning,” she grinned.

“Your pack,” Rian motioned to the bag on the ground. “Do you have a trade?”

“I’m an inventor. Well, not really, because I’m terrible at it. In my country, if the firstborn male chooses to decline the offer for the family trade, it will carry down to the next one. When Darriek died, I was told to take it up, being the firstborn female. My father was a sensible man and knew that any daughter of his who learned a trade was set for a life, whether or not she had a man. I come from a society of attempted equality.”

She stopped for a moment to eat the rest of her roll. He had said he was going to Lior, didn’t he? This would be the perfect time to get off this hunk of land.

“Let me go with you!” she said abruptly.

Rian dropped his fork.

“To Lior? With me?”

“I wanted to leave this continent anyway. You’re leaving tomorrow. I like you. If you leave tomorrow and I’m not on that boat with you, I might lose my chance to find something that doesn’t disappear.”

Rian’s jaw dropped. She was being quite forward. If this is how all the girls in Miithos acted, he’d have to stop by. He tried to find words as she dropped her fork back onto her plate. Rian Tiamat was many things: a sailor, a brother, a disappointment as a son, but he was not a womanizer, regardless of what the mothers of Claremont said. He would not bed her tonight, as she seemed to imply.

“Are you really sure you want to do that? You said you wanted to find a job so that you can send money home…”

“Claremont has nothing to offer me. I’ve been here four days and found nothing. The new continent will treat me better.”

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that Lior was just east of the continent; a chain of islands that littered the shallow waters of the Flagon Sea. He was going for a mini-vacation. His crew knew and made plans. He didn’t tell Katrin until the next day when the last speck of land faded into the distance.

“We’re WHAT?!” she screeched, rushing out of her room.

“I was going to tell you yesterday-I was, but you were so adamant about going, I thought it’d be best to do it in the morning, but you know how ships are. Maybe you can find work in Lior-we’ll be there for a week.”

She stormed off, angry. How dare he not tell her and then act like there’s nothing wrong. Certainly he’d make a stop at Rasul before heading off to Lior.

Two days later, heading eastward, she discovered they weren’t stopping at the mainland at all, but heading straight for J’iirney, the capital of the Islands of Lior. She had calmed down by then. What did it matter? They didn’t have much time anyway, if current events remained the same. It was that day she wandered out on deck. Rian stood at the bridge, hair tied back, loose strands blowing in the wind. The sun bounced off of it, distorting the light into shades of reddish-gold. He looked so regal behind the helm. His men were scattered around the deck, scurrying about with their various on-deck chores. Men hung from riggings, securing masts for the long trip. They were yelling at each other. She had never felt more alive than she had on that deck that day.

“Good morning, Katrin!” Rian exclaimed, stepping back from the wheel. “Brin, could you watch this for me?”

“Aye, but with all due respect, sir...,” Brin motioned to Katrin.

“Now, Brin, you wouldn’t suggest that my good friend Katrin jump off here now would you? She’s been below deck all this time and nothing’s happened.”

Brin nodded. “Yes, sir, I suppose not, sir.”

“Very good. Now would you excuse us for a few moments?”

He motioned Katrin down the steps. After she slipped several times, Rian spoke.

“Perhaps you should wear something more…practical?” he suggested.

“I can’t. It wouldn’t be proper.”

“Nonsense,” he scoffed. “Women adventurers and travelers wear pants all the time. We’ll get you fitted for proper ones once we’re in J’iirney, but for now, how about some of my old ones? They’re small enough they may fit.”

“Thank you,” she said, nodding. She’d have to try some on later when he was back commanding his ship.

“Here,” he said opening the door to his room. “Let me grab a few here. I always keep a few extra in case we need rags or get a new member who needs clothes.”

He produced a few pants from his wardrobe.

“These should work. I haven’t been able to fit in these for a few years.”

He patted his belly, indicating traveling had actually done him quite well. His hand on the door knob, he went to exit when she stopped him.

“Thank you, but I barely know you. I shouldn’t be taking your things,” she replied as she bundled his clothes back up. “I’ll just stay below deck until we make port. And I’m not taking your bedroom either.”

He crossed to the bed and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to sit back on the bed.

“Please, I insist.”

Neither of them could actively remember who made the first move, or how they got tangled in the sheets, but they did know it wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Why’d you do that?” Katrin asked Rian dreamily as the silence was interrupted by pounding.

“I think you did that,” he responded, looking for his pants. Pulling the blanket off the bed, he wrapped himself in it and answered the door.

“Ah, bloody ‘ell!” Brin swore as Rian opened the door wrapped in nothing but a blanket. “Get some bloody pants on and git out here!”

“Is it an emergency?” Rian asked.

“Well, ah, no,” Brin stammered.

“Then, don’t knock again unless the ship’s on fire,” he said as he slammed the door.

Waddling back to the bed, he rolled over and wrapped Katrin in the blanket.

“Yes, I definitely recall you starting this. Something about how in twenty-seven years everything’s going to hell anyway? Then, you pulled me down.”

“Oh,” she giggled. “Oops. I can’t control when I get my visions…”

“Are all girls from Miithos this forward?” Rian asked again as she tried to sleep on his shoulder.

“Some of them,” she replied happily. “But don’t you have an angry first mate to check in with?”

“I suppose I do.”

He sighed, getting up.

“Stay here as long as you like, I’ll have someone send up your things a bit later. This is your room now,” Rian replied, buttoning his shirt. Slipping on his boots, he tied his hair back with the ribbon lying on the desk and whistled as he went out the door.

Katrin dozed.

The next few days were a blur. The port was nothing to shout about; J’iirney wasn’t like Claremont at all. Where Claremont was clean, J’iirney was dingy and the amount of streetwalkers it employed was astonishing. As Rian’s crew picked their company for the evening, Rian changed his lodging.

“You’re too good for a place like this,” he said, ruffling her hair as he hassled for an upgrade.

“Really, we don’t have to share a room...,” Katrin started.

“Yes, we do, because I’m not that kind of man.”

So, that was how their week was spent, in an upscale inn room that Rian could barely afford, that was the size of Katrin’s house back home and a bed so large it could double as a raft. The first two days she refused to leave the room. She said that if he paid as much money for the room as he said he did, she wasn’t going to waste any money by leaving it.

“Please, I insist. This was my vacation, now go out and have a vacation. I’m not going to make you suffer because you decided to come with. I’ll join you in a bit.”

After she left, he slept. Clearly he was out of practice and she had enough energy for the both of them. By now, he was sure word had traveled to his crew about his company the past couple of nights. He hoped he wouldn’t land in too much trouble. Braving the exhaustion that would follow once he met back with her, he rose and dressed.

Katrin had not seen anything like J’iirney. Balmy southern winds blew the palm leaves around her, and warmed her face. Stopping at the shop she promised Rian she’d go to, she felt her face flush when asking the tailor to fit her for proper pants.

“And what’s a pretty girl like you want with men’s pants?” the tailor asked.

“I plan on doing a lot of traveling,” she told him quietly.

He nodded and measured her. She paled at the thought of her new lifestyle and the disappointment her mother would have. The next letter she wrote home, she would have to omit a few things. She felt it wasn’t appropriate to tell her mother her nocturnal activities nor was it appropriate to mention she was going to start wearing pants. It would break her mother’s heart and she felt it best to never bring it up.

The rest of the vacation was mainly uneventful as far as vacations went. Her pants were brought to her room later in the week. She stuffed the package in her pack. There was no need for them now. She discovered J’iirney had many shops and she wasn’t too hesitant about spending the money Rian gave her. She used this opportunity to buy some much needed things.

A relaxing few days later, as her thing were loaded into Rian’s quarters, she hoped she had made the right decision in going with him. Whatever her feelings were, her future lay on the new continent ahead. She would embrace it with all her might.

A few days, at an inn in Efreet, she awoke to an empty bed and a note on her pillow.

Kat-rin,

I am sorry I had to leave you like this, but my ship left this morning, I was going to wake you, but well, you know how ships are. I felt it was best for you to stay here, find a job and send money home. I know your parents will appreciate it very much. I am doing what I can to return to you as quickly as possible. Please wait for me.

-Rian

Curling the paper into a ball, she wept. Slowly she slid out of bed. Pulling a new pair of pants from her pack, she slid them on, noticing the feel as she slid them into a pair of old boots she found. Using the blue ribbon that Rian had left on the night stand, she pulled her hair back, so it hung down as opposed to the up do she had previously worn. Never again would she wear a skirt. Her hair would stay until she found a place to cut it. She was foolish to trust a man so easily. She’d not make that mistake again. She left five gold on the nightstand for the maid. Slinging her bag over her shoulder and picketing the key, she shut the door to the last memories she’d allow herself to have.

With the remainder of Rian’s money that he insisted she keep, she bought a jacket. It was too big and it hung loosely, but it would at least keep her warm at night. No barber in town would cut her hair so she gave up and went to the next town. Out of money, she was forced to sleep outside on the outskirts of town until she could find away to earn more. Her first night out, when she told herself she wouldn’t doze, she awoke to a weight on her. Fearing for her life, she forced her eyes open. To her horror, a strange man had pinned her arms down and ripped her pants to get the goods. Figuring he had pretty much taken what he wanted, she twisted, trying to get the dagger from his hands.

“Now, now love, I’m almost done. Be a good girl and lay still for me.”

Wrapping her legs around the man, she rolled him around until he was underneath her. He said something, but the struggle made him drop his dagger. She reached for it as he tried to continue where she interrupted him. She reached it and pushed it as far into him as it would go. He screamed, she screamed and he arched forward, trying to remove the dagger in his death throes. Once he stopped moving, she stood up and looked for anything of value he might have. She removed the dagger from him and wrapped it in a cloth she had taken from Rian’s boat the day before they reached land. She also found a cutlass at his waist. Taking the belt, she fastened it around her now-wasted pants. Tattered, dirty and covered in blood that wasn’t hers, she searched through his pack, and found a small vest. She kept it. Hysterical, she walked the distance to the next town; Rian had mentioned he had contacts in.

Through the town’s doctor and master swordsman, Katrin regain her strength. She thanked the thief for attacking her because she was now able to perfect the swordswoman skills she always knew she had. Seizing her skill, she began advertising herself out as a bodyguard. She eventually made enough money to go on to the next town.

Slowly, she made her way to Lagon. The dwarves weren’t too happy upon seeinkg a non-Vikinger enter their realm, but once they saw her skill with a sword, they welcomed her as one of them. She stayed in Lagon for a while, inventing as a full-time job. Her inventions weren’t very good, and eventually she left after having exhausted her supply and the dwarves patience for something to brew beer more quickly.

Every once in a while, someone would hire her as a mercenary, but she never really enjoyed it enough to make a good wage from it.

On her last day, on the border of Flagon and Dragera, in the cheapest in she could afford, she caught a view of herself in the mirror by the washbasin. Where once a pretty, confident naïve girl stood was now replaced by a bruised, bloody, dirty, battle-hardened one. Her blonde hair was natty and dirty, the effect of too many nights sleeping outside and riding behind too many wagons. She didn’t’ regret her gift, but she did regret how many men she had to kill to get there.

“Look at me Mama,” she said to her reflection as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. “Or don’t. You’d hardly recognize me as the girl who left home to earn you money. I slept with a man I barely knew because I had a vision that said I was supposed to. And it turns out I love him,

imagine that. I killed a man-the man who raped me and other men because I was paid to. I drink too much and I want it to STOP. I want to be an honest woman again, Mama. I think tomorrow, I’ll work my way to Ruby and get a real job, then you and Papa will have enough money for the store and I can go home. I just want to go home.”

She dreamed of home that night, which she was welcomed with open arms and she knew that it was her destiny all along to go to Ruby. She had to go now. People were counting on her.


End file.
